Governor Polis has announced the first of multiple investments using stimulus funding from the U.S. Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund (CPF) Program; investing $113.5 million in Colorado to make significant improvements to Colorado’s broadband structure and connecting Colorado homes lacking internet access.
Southern Colorado Economic Development District (SCEDD) has been awarded $12,467,127.00 in funding to support projects throughout southern Colorado. Ditesco is serving as consultant and lead partner on all projects.
Projects awarded are:
- The SCEDD Pueblo County project was awarded $2,381,572.00; this project will connect 341 locations in unincorporated areas of Pueblo County south of Avondale and on the south side of the town of Boone. The subgrantee internet service provider is SECOM, which serves homes and businesses across southeast Colorado with a mix of fiber and wireless technologies.
- The SCEDD Bent and Otero Counties project was awarded $8,848.689.00 and will connect 938 locations in the northern portion of unincorporated Bent County in Southeast Colorado. These projects connect underserved locations with fiber and increase network resiliency for the City of Las Animas, Cheraw, McClave and Wiley. SECOM is the subgrantee on these projects also.
- The SCEDD Lake County project was awarded $1,236,866.00 and will serve 132 locations north of Leadville from Ski Cooper to the residential community. The subgrantee is Vero Networks, which serves homes and businesses with a mix of fiber and wireless technologies across Colorado
These projects in the south and southwest parts of the state clearly illustrate the biggest impact from the CPF funds serving unserved and underserved locations.
Through a rigorous selection process, the Colorado Broadband Office evaluated applications and selected projects that could significantly bridge and impact Colorado’s digital divide.
In total, CPF will connect nearly 19,000 homes and businesses across Colorado.
Next Steps: SCEDD and the Broadband Team will schedule community meetings in each of the CPF projects areas starting mid-February. Additional community meetings will be held in those member counties where CPF funds were not awarded as we plan for the upcoming Broadband, Equity, ACCESS, AND Deployment (BEAD) grant application cycle.
Your Broadband Staff
The entire team at SCEDD is
focused on identifying gaps in
Broadband service delivery. Your
comments and suggestions are
important tools that help us focus
on areas of need.
Contact:
Leslie Mastroianni
Executive Director
leslie@scedd.com